


Soul Searching

by imaginethatstarlord



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Battle of New York (Marvel), Bucky Barnes Feels, Bucky Barnes Recovering, Bucky Barnes Remembers, Bucky Barnes's Metal Arm, Captain America: Civil War (Movie), Civil War Team Captain America, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Hurt Peter Parker, Kid Peter Parker, Originally Posted on Tumblr, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Post-Battle of New York (Marvel), Post-Serum Steve Rogers, Precious Peter Parker, Protective Steve Rogers, Steve Rogers and the 21st Century, Teen Angst, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, Winter Soldier Bucky Barnes, bucky barnes has a grandkid
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-08
Updated: 2019-03-22
Packaged: 2019-09-14 07:51:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 19,150
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16909077
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/imaginethatstarlord/pseuds/imaginethatstarlord
Summary: You, (y/n) Barnes, feel pretty alone in the world. Both your parents are gone and the person they left in charge of you doesn’t care what you do in the slightest. You thought that you would remain this way forever, but the cute boy in the apartment downstairs from you proves you wrong, and so does your supposed to be dead great-grandfather.





	1. Prologue

Post Battle of New York: 2014

It didn’t feel like the Battle of New York was all that long ago. You had been injured by a falling building, but it wasn’t bad enough to keep you in the hospital for more than a few days. You were just a little kid, no older than ten when everything started to happen, and while it scared you, there was a part of you that wanted nothing more than to help everyone else. That’s what you had done for the first little bit of the chaos. After you had gotten past the fact that there were aliens flying all around you, as well as the Avengers running through the streets, you ditched your legal guardian and started to help people. 

You had these powers that you didn’t quite understand, but one of the things you could do was sense where people were located. It was like you could feel their souls bouncing around inside their chests. You used this power to lead fireman, police, and military personnel to people trapped by buildings. You were of great use to them, until one of the scariest things you had ever seen, a giant flying lizard-monster thing, hit the building you were standing near and most of it came crumbling down. 

You managed to cover your head and end up in a pocket of debris, the only thing that was really injured was your wrist where a piece of concrete hit before trapping you in. You had shielded the back of your head with your hands as you were on your stomach, hence the damage done to your hand. You screamed and cried, hoping, someone, anyone would hear you. After a few minutes, you began to lose hope, your little body tired from the adrenaline rush and all the pain your wrist was in. You rolled over in the pocket so you were lying scrunched up on your back. You stayed like this, with your eyes closed holding your wrist until you felt the piece of concrete that had injured you being lifted. You opened your eyes to see Iron Man. He seemed to be saying something to you, but you weren’t sure what. You couldn’t understand him, it sounded like you were underwater. He picked you up quickly, being as careful as he could. He spoke again to someone as they came running over to him. You were soon out of Iron Man’s arms and into someone else’s. When you rolled your head to the side to look, you saw a man you didn’t recognize, but obviously, he was someone that Iron Man trusted, so you weren’t worried. This man, with short spiky hair and a quiver on his back, took you to an evacuation plane or at least that’s what you assumed it was.

He handed you over to some paramedics and the plane took off shortly after that. The use of your powers and the sheer terror you had faced caused you to fall asleep on the ride to the hospital.

When you woke up, you had a surprise waiting for you. Sitting in one of the chairs next to your bed was Iron Man, the man who carried you to the plane, and another woman that you didn’t recognize. You sat up a bit in bed, trying to get your bearings, and this caught the attention of everyone else in the room. The woman helped you sit up and get situated before Mr. Stark started talking, “Hey Kid how are you feeling?”

You shrugged, your wrist hurt, but other than that you felt pretty okay, “I’m fine I guess. I bit tired… Where am I?”

“You’re in a special hospital, the regular ones are all very busy, so I had you brought here,” He answered. 

“Ah… Okay. Thank you, Mr. Stark,” You responded, “If you don’t mind me asking, you are you two?” You asked, looking at the pair in dark clothes. When you looked closely at what they were wearing, you noticed the logo on their shirts. It belonged to some kind of government agency, you weren’t sure which one.

“I’m Nat,” The woman said with a warm smile.

“And I’m Clint, you remember me, sweetheart?” The other man asked, kneeling down beside the bed. 

You nodded, “You had a bow and arrows… You carried me to the plane.”

He smiled, “That’s right. Can you tell me your name?”

“(y/n), (y/n) Barnes,” You answered, “I live in Brooklyn. I was in the city with Ms. Matton when the aliens showed up.”

“Who’s Ms. Matton?” Nat asked.

“My guardian,” You answered back. 

This small conversation was where it all started. Thor had seen you leading around the rescue teams, found it odd, and told Tony. That’s why Tony was able to find you, Thor hadn’t been far and told the Iron Man to go make sure you were alright. During the rest of this little conversation, Tony managed to get you to tell him about your powers. You told him that you didn’t know much about them and you refused to tell him how you got them, but it put you on a path you didn’t see your life going down before. He had a car pick you up every day after school, you went to different locations, and you trained with Nat and Clint in self-protection. You also often visited with a nice man called Doctor Banner, who tried to figure out your powers and to help you control them. This had gone on for about two years now.

All this time lead you to this moment. As you spent more time with everyone, they learned bits about your past, but when you finally let it slip that you were related to James Buchanan Barnes, Captain America’s late best friend, things really got interesting. You had gotten home from school one day towards the end of sixth grade and nothing seemed out of the ordinary. You were in the process of moving from Brooklyn to Queens, so most of your belongings were stored in boxes. You grabbed a bottle of water and a bag of chips from the kitchen before making your way to sit down on the couch. Your guardian was nowhere to be seen, but that was the norm. She was always out, usually with her boyfriend, but it didn’t really bother you, you had always been really independent. It only bothered you that she wasn’t there to help with the whole moving thing. 

The only weird thing about today was that Mr. Stark canceled your training session for that afternoon so you were home earlier. This happened sometimes when both Clint and Nat had to go out on a mission, but something about it seemed off. Normally they told you a day ahead of time when they weren’t going to be able to train, Mr. Stark was never really involved at all. However, today he had called you personally. He served as your wake up call bright and early at 6:45 to tell you that you wouldn’t be training today and the car would just take you home. 

You shook your thoughts from your head as the doorbell rang. You weren’t sure who it could be, but you knew that it probably wasn’t anyone you could tell about your weird predicament with Tony Stark and some of the other Avengers. You walked over to the door and pulled it open, expecting to see Mrs. Carruthers aka the old lady that lived a few doors down or Jackie, the little boy from across the hall, but no. When you looked into the hallway you saw someone you were shocked to see. “Are you Ms. (y/n) Barnes?” He asked.

You gulped, “Yes sir, Captain America… I’m (y/n) Barnes. It’s an honor to meet you!”

He smiled brightly, “It’s an honor to meet you too, would you mind if I come in? There’s something I’d like to talk to you about.”

“Oh of course!” You said as you stepped to the side so that he could come in. 

“Thank you,” He said before walking inside. 

You shut the door behind him, “Can I get you anything? Water? Juice? A snack? Do super soldiers even need to eat?” You asked, asking that last one more to yourself than to him.

He laughed, having heard all of them, “No, I’m fine thank you,” he said as he sat on the couch. You made your way to sit next to him. 

“Tony told me that you know a lot about your family history… So… I suppose you know how we’re in a way related?”

You smiled brightly, “Yeah! You were my great grandfather’s best friend!”

“Yeah exactly. Can you tell me about the rest of your family from there? I’m curious to see how Bucky’s family panned out.”

“Yeah!” You chirped excitedly, “Give me one second!” You hopped up off the couch and ran to your room. You grabbed one of the boxes, in your mind the most valuable box in the whole apartment. You ran back and sat next to Steve again, setting the box between you two. You pulled out the thing on the top first, an old family photo album. “In here there’s stuff from your time and everything leading up to my time.” You flipped through the first few pages, they were old pictures, mostly of Steve and Bucky, as well as the girl he was with at the time, your Great Grandmother. Once you got past the stuff that Steve kind of already knew, you explained the generations of your family. How Bucky’s girlfriend had a son, that son had a son, and that son had a daughter, you. 

“It’s a beautiful family,” He said with a smile. He thought a moment about how to choose his words carefully, “If you don’t mind me asking, your family all seems wonderful, where did they all go?”

“Well… My Great Grandfather is dead, as you know. My Grandfather died when I was two from natural causes and my Grandmother had a heart attack when I was four. As for my parents… That’s not a story I really want to talk about… ever,” You said honestly. You couldn’t look him in the eye for a minute. 

“I’m sorry kiddo. It’s not much, but I’m sorry that you’ve had to go through a lot. I came here because Tony told me that you have powers and you’re doing well with them, but there’s not a lot of people you can count on. I want you to know that as Bucky’s best friend I consider you my family and I want to be a person you can talk to if you need to, about having powers, school, stuff with your guardian, whatever.”

You looked up at him and smiled, “That sounds great Cap, I really appreciate it.”

He smiled, pulling a small piece of paper out of his pocket, he handed it to you, “Here’s my number, just send me a text so I know it’s you.”

You giggled, “You know how to text?”

“I’m learning.”

“Good for you old man,” You said with a smile, “This might sound rude because we just met and all, but tonight was supposed to be moving night and as you can see, my guardian is nowhere to be found to help, so would you mind helping me move some of this stuff to our new apartment in Queens?”

“It would be my pleasure (y/n). I can drive us there too if you give me directions,” He said as he stood up off the couch. 

“Great! We are officially supposed to be out of here the day after tomorrow, so whatever you can help me move would be a big help!”

He leaned down and picked up one of the boxes by his feet, “I wouldn’t mind helping you with most of this stuff. Whatever we can get in the car I’ll help you get over there, it’s not fair to you to have to move all of this, especially since you can’t drive yourself there.”

You nodded to him, picking up a box to take to the car, “Yeah so let’s getting packing!”

He laughed and this started your long trek of going up and down the stairs of your apartment building to load stuff into the car. After packing pretty much everything from your room and the living room, you grabbed the box with the photo album and set it in your lap in the car. You hadn’t shown Steve everything in the box, and you weren’t sure you wanted to, you just knew you had to keep it safe. 

The two of you actually made packing the car pretty fun before you headed to the car on that last trip and actually packed yourselves in. The drive from Brooklyn to Queens wasn’t too bad, so the two of you soon arrived at your new apartment building. It was nicer than where you had been living, and you smiled up at it, “Sorry about all the stairs.”

“It’s all good,” He said with a smile as the two of you started unloading the boxes and taking them upstairs. As these trips went on the two of you found separate paces and you weren’t walking with each other anymore. That was fine with you, it gave you a little space to process what was all going on. You were carrying just a box of random books and comics from your room when some plowed into on the second-floor landing. You fell over, spilling the box’s contents all over the floor and even down a few stairs. 

“Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry!” The person said frantically, “Are you okay? Let me help you clean up!” Once you got your mind back in focus you saw a boy who looked to be about your age in front of you. He had his hand out towards you, “Can I help you up? I’m so so sorry!”

You smiled to him taking his hand, “No worries, it happens to all of us. I’m (y/n) Barnes, I’m moving in.”

He pulled you up and then began to pick up the contents that had spilled, “Well (y/n), it’s nice to meet you, I’m Peter Parker.”


	2. Long Lost Family

Civil War: 2016  
You thought the whole Sokovia Accords deal was a terrible idea. Sure the Avengers had caused a large amount of trouble in the time that they have been public with their actions, but that was no reason to say the government should be able to control where and when they go. You let out a long sigh as you plopped down on the couch next to your boyfriend. Yes, the cute boy that bumped into you in the hall a few years ago was now your boyfriend, but that was beside the point. 

“This whole thing is ridiculous,” you huffed as you cuddled into Peter’s side. 

He wrapped his arm around your shoulders, “I mean… It kind of makes sense. They have caused a lot of damage and the governments of the world want to get a handle on it.”

You moved so that you could look him in the eye, “Really Peter? You realize this effects us too right?”

“This affects us how exactly?” He asked, “Isn’t this just to keep the Avengers in check?”

You rolled your eyes, you lay your head back down on his chest, “No Pete… The Sokovia Accords makes it law that all superhumans have to register through the government. That means us too Peter, if we ever wanted to work as superheroes for real we’d have to register and be told when and where we can go. What if they send us somewhere that we don’t need to go? Or they send us too late?”

Peter ran his fingers through your hair, trying to calm you down, “There’s no reason to get so stressed about it right now. The Accords are being signed into law today and that’s that. If they find us and make us register, then we’ll worry about it. If not, we can be friendly neighborhood superheroes right here in Queens.”

You let out another sigh, “I guess you’re right Spidey.”

“Yeah, don’t let things you can’t control stress you out. Let’s just find something to watch okay?”

“Yeah that sounds good,” you said as Peter grabbed the remote and started flipping through channels. You weren’t really paying much attention to what was on though. Your thoughts kept driving you crazy. The law should have been signed and put into effect by now, but something in your system told you that that didn’t happen.

You tried to focus on the sound of Peter’s breath, the rise, and fall of his chest, and the feel of his soul wavelength. This is what you always did when you needed to calm down. Even if he was far away you could sense his soul, and that comforted you to no end. You smiled softly as you really started to relax.

That feeling didn’t stay for very long before your phone began to ring. You let out yet another sigh, thinking it was going to be Lisa calling from upstairs to tell you that you needed to clean your room or do this dish or mop the floor, but your heart stopped when you took a look at the caller id. It read ‘Star Spangled Banner’ which is what you had put Captain America in as. You took a sharp breath, “Peter I have to take this,” You said as you got up from his grip and walked quickly towards his room. You hadn’t heard from Steve since what happened in Lagos and you were worried about him. He had become a great friend to you, in fact, he was like your family. 

You shut the door to Peter’s room and pressed answer, “Steve? What’s going on?” You asked. 

“(y/n) listen carefully I don’t have a lot of time to talk,” He said in a hushed tone, “I want you to know something important that we have been keeping from you.”

“Okay. What is it?” You asked, your curiosity peaked and your nerves tensed. 

“Bucky is alive.”

“What?” You asked, all the air in your lungs felt like it had been punched out. Tony, Steve, and the other Avengers all tried to convince you to stay away from the SHIELD files that Natasha had leaked. What if one of them talked about your great-grandfather? What if there was one about you and your powers? Had Tony or one of the other Avengers ratted you out to the Director?

“Bucky is alive and he’s being blamed for the terrorist attack on the United Nations,” Steve replied.

You gave the wall a confused look, “There was a terrorist attack on the United Nations?”

“Yes, today when they went to sign the Sokovia Accords into law in Viena and there was a bomb planted in a news van. The suspect is Bucky, but I don’t think he did it,” Steve explained.

“Why are you just telling me about this now? How long have you know he was alive?” You asked, slightly angry at the fact that Steve had lied to you.

“Just about two years, but I didn’t keep him from you without good reason. He’s dangerous kiddo. He caused all the mayhem a few years back when SHIELD fell, but afterward, he was nowhere to be found. It wasn’t worth telling you until we knew where he was.”

“You’ve found him?” You asked hopefully. It didn’t even bother you that Steve said he was dangerous. You just wanted to meet the man who was supposed to be your family. 

“Actually at this moment, the government has him, but I have a bad feeling about all of this,” Steve let out a sigh. He knew involving the girl would upset Tony to no end, but that friendship seemed to be falling apart anyway. He knew this is what as best for you, you needed to know the truth about Bucky, about the part of your family you never really got to know. 

“What do you want me to do Steve?” You asked in a small voice. Your emotions were running ramped, they couldn’t decide if they wanted to make you cry, smile, or punch Captain America right now.

“How fast can you get to Berlin?” He questioned.

You removed your phone from your ear and looked up flights from the nearest airport to Berlin, “Quickest flight is 10 hours with only one stop. It’s the soonest too, leaves in an hour.”

“I hate to ask this of you, but do you think you could get on that flight without an adult? You are too young to fly by yourself right?”

“I’ll deal with the devil in the details, you just have your phone on and I’ll call you when I land. You can count on me Captain,” You said before hanging up the phone.

You looked around the floor of Peter’s room, spotting the bag you had packed to spend the next few days here. Yes, you only lived one floor up and you could go get something if you needed it, but Lisa Matton was always up there with her no good excuse for a boyfriend and you didn’t want to deal with either of them if you didn’t have to. You picked up your bag and opened the window over Peter’s bed. You knew you couldn’t tell him where you were going, he’d never let you get in the middle of this fight between Iron Man and Captain America, but you knew that’s where you had to be. Besides, you really wanted to meet your great-grandfather. 

You climbed out the window and shut it behind you. You then started to make your way down the fire escape. It felt weird to be going all the way down instead of going up to your own bedroom after a long day of school, homework, and Peter cuddles, but you didn’t really have a choice. You had to catch that plane.

You hoped into a taxi and told the man you had a flight to catch and to step on it. He gladly listened, obviously wanting to get you, a stressed, huffy, teenage girl out of his cab. It took hardly any time at all for you to reach JFK International Airport, but it still felt like hours. On the way to the airport, you had booked your flight with Lisa’s credit card, but you doubted that she would notice. You weren’t a blip on her radar and she certainly wasn’t concerned with how much money she spent. 

You were soon out of the cab and running through check-in. You had to fight with the people at the front desk a bit to let you through, but you promised that Steve was waiting for you at the other airport and you were being a pain so they just let you through. Your flight was in less than 15 minutes when you finally got everything done, so you ran directly through security to the gate with the flight attendant that had been assigned to you. There was still a long line of people trying to board the plane when you got there, so you took the brief break to check your messages. Peter had texted you and called you, but you hadn’t even noticed the vibration of your phone while you were rushing around. Most of the messages consisted of things like ‘hey where did you go babe?’ and ‘(y/n)? Did you go home? You didn’t say goodbye’, but those messages became more frantic. He must of went up to your apartment and checked for you. Messages like ‘Babe where are you?’ and ‘(y/n) please answer your phone, I’m starting to get worried now’ made up the later texts. Your heart ached at the thought of Peter being worried about you. You let out a sigh, you knew you couldn’t tell him the truth. 

You thought about what to tell him, you didn’t want to lie so you just sent two simple texts before getting on the plane:  
‘I’m fine. I’ll see you later’  
‘There’s just something I’ve got to do Peter’

~ ~ ~

Bucky’s mind was filled with haze. He couldn’t think straight, his body was in pain. He was confused by the supposed doctor who asked about where he was held in Siberia, but something else plagued him more than that; the conversation he had with Steve back at his apartment before he was taken in...

It started off pretty normally, Bucky felt defensive since he was being blamed for the attack on the United Nations, but Steve seemed to feel very calm, yet apprehensive. It was like he wanted to talk about something other than the attack. “What is it, Steve?” He asked, unsure of where this was going. 

“What is what Buck?” Steve asked, caught off guard by the forward question. 

“What do you want to say? I can tell there’s something on your mind other than the attack. I don’t think we’d still be standing here if there wasn’t,” He replied honestly.

Steve let out a sigh, his shoulders relaxing a bit as he tried to think of a way to put what he was thinking about into words, “There’s this young girl in Queens. She grew up in Brooklyn, a few doors down from the building you used to live in.”

“What’s so special about this girl that you feel the need to bring her up to me in our current situation?” Bucky asked, not seeing why this was important just yet.

Steve smiled, this was something that Bucky hadn’t seen him do since they were in their twenties, “She’s smart, feisty, and strong. She has these crazy powers that let her feel the souls of the people she knows from thousands of miles away. She’s caring and witty too, don’t get me started on the number of pranks pulled on me these last few years-” 

Bucky cut him off, “The point Steve, we don’t have much time.”

“She doesn’t have any family left, but Tony Stark introduced me to her not because she needed a guardian or someone to talk about superpowers with, he introduced her to me because we’re practically family. Bucky, she’s your great-granddaughter.”

Bucky thought back into his life just before the war for a brief moment, a flash of a smile crossed his face as he thought about his past girlfriend. She had gone on in life without him, raised a kid and that kid went on to continue his family even further, giving him a great-granddaughter. His felt old all of a sudden before his brows knitted together. He was worried for a moment that his great-granddaughter might look like his girlfriend, that it might be a painful reminder of the truth to see her, but that train of thought soon past. He had family in this world, real blood family. Of course, Steve was like family to him, but this was different, “What’s her name?”

“(y/n).”

“(y/n)... that’s a pretty name… I want to meet her,” Bucky said with a smile.

Steve smiled back, but he didn’t get a chance to respond, the police came crashing in at that moment. The details of everything that happened after that all felt vague and fuzzy, but that was crystal clear. He had a great-granddaughter and Steve had been looking out for her.

\- End of Flashback -

Bucky started to wake up, his eyes felt heavy and everything hurt. His arm was trapped by a machine. He heard a voice he didn’t recognize call for ‘Cap’ which he assumed was Steve. There was a bit of shuffling and some muffled voices before two men were standing before him, one was Steve, the other seemed familiar, “Steve,” he said weakly.

“Which Bucky am I talking to?” He replied. 

“Your mom’s name was Sara. You used to wear newspapers in your shoes,” He said with a small laugh. 

“Can’t read that in a museum.”

“Just like that, we’re supposed to be cool?” The other man asked. Bucky realized he had done something terrible again after hearing the trigger words.

“What did I do?” He asked regretfully. 

“Enough,” Steve responded flatly. 

“Oh god, I knew this would happen. Everything Hydra put inside me still there. All he had to do was say the goddamn words,” Bucky said on the verge of tears. He just wanted all of the suffering to end. 

“But at the end of the day the real you is still in there. Isn’t that was really matters?” a small voice retorted from a bit away.

Steve let out a sigh, “I told you to stay hidden.”

“And you made me fly all the way to Germany, I think I have a right to be in this conversation,” You snapped back. You reminded Bucky of himself in so many ways, just something about your stance and your speech patterns already. 

“Is this her?” Bucky asked, “My great granddaughter?”

“Yes, it is,” Steve answered.

You looked towards Bucky for the first time and something in you clicked. It didn’t matter if anyone told you he was dangerous when you looked at him, you saw his soul. It was beaten and bashed in, rough around the edges, but your soul only felt one thing when in the presence of his soul. It felt like it did when you were with Peter: home.


	3. The Battle Begins

You were taken back by the feeling at first. It surprised you, that you could feel this instantly connected to someone else, but you knew the unmistakable feeling in the pit of your stomach could only mean that. Your feet started to move what felt like on their own. You picked up the pace to a running speed, heading for Bucky. You didn’t even hear Steve yelling at you to stop. He was worried for a minute that you running at Bucky might set him off, but he was soon proven very wrong. 

You hugged Bucky tightly, one of your hands in his hair, the other wrapped around his upper arm onto his back. Your face was buried in his shoulder, you felt safe, happy, and at home. Bucky was shocked by this at first, but he soon moved his free arm to wrap around your back. He also moved his head to rest on your shoulder. He gave Steve a look that told him that he was okay before Steve moved to realize Bucky’s metal arm from the machine. The second Bucky’s arm was free he wrapped it tightly around you, his hand resting on the back of your head. 

He realized that you had come all this way just to meet him. You traveled all the way from Queens for this hug and he smiled a bit at the thought. He suddenly felt protective over you. You were small compared to him and he found you absolutely precious. However, he was one of the people who had definitely seen the darkness of the world and he knew he never wanted you to have to deal with it. Steve had been looking out for you while he couldn’t, but he knew at least for now that job was passed over to him. 

“I’d hate to break up the family reunion, but we need to figure out a plan and then get the hell out of here before they find us,” Sam said. His voice broke through to you and you pulled away from Bucky. 

You both stood up, looking in the direction of Sam and Steve, Steve had a smile on his face. You smiled back, “Sorry ‘bout that, you know with my powers, meeting someone works a little differently for me than it does for everyone else.”

“I know, It’s okay kiddo. What did you see?” Steve asked. 

You thought about how to explain things for a moment. Bucky and Sam knew hardly anything about your powers, “Well… I can do a lot of things related to souls. I can see them, feel them, read them, track them, and if I want to even manipulate them. When I meet people I can not only read some things about their life, but I can also read how compatible my soul is to theirs. When I looked at Bucky, I read our souls’ compatibility.”

“And?” Bucky asked.

“There’s only one other person that has that high of a compatibility rate with me. I got excited,” You explained. You figured it was best not to talk about your adorable superhero boyfriend right now. 

Steve smiled again, “That’s good, but now we have to get back to the problem at hand,” he said looking towards Bucky, “Who was he?”

“I don’t know,” Bucky responded honestly.

Steve gave him a stern look, “People are dead, the bombing, the setup, the doctor did all that just to get 10 minutes with you, I need you to do better than ‘I don’t know’.”

Bucky thought about it for a moment, “He wanted to know about Siberia, where I was kept. He wanted to know exactly where.”

“Why would he need to know that?” Steve questioned.

“Because I’m not the only Winter Soldier,” Bucky replied in a deadpan yet regretful tone. 

“Who were they?” Steve asked you weren’t sure you wanted to know. 

“The most elite death squad, more kills than anyone in Hydra history and that was before the serum,” Bucky answered. You gulped, you were right, you didn’t want to know. 

“They all turn out like you?” Sam inquired.

Bucky didn’t hesitate, “Worse.”

“The doctor, could he control them?”

“Enough,” Bucky said as he looked away from Steve. You had an awful feeling in the pit of your stomach about all of this.

“He said he wanted to see an empire fall.”

“With these guys, he could do it. They speak 30 languages, they can hide in plain sight, infiltrate, assassinate, destabilize. They can take a whole country down in one night and you’d never see them coming.”

“This would be a lot easier if… if we could call Tony and- He’d never believe us.”

“And even if he did-”

“Who knows if the accords would let him help.”

“We’re on our own,” Steve said with a sigh.

“Maybe not. I know a guy,” Sam answered.

You let out a sigh, briefly looking towards Bucky before shifting your gaze to the pair of men chattering a bit away from you two. Things were about to get really messy. 

~ ~ ~

Peter was on the way back to his apartment after school, but he wasn’t really thinking straight. He was incredibly worried about his girlfriend. She left abruptly yesterday with no explanation and she didn't say where she was going. Peter wished he had seen who called her then maybe he’d be able to figure out where she is. He let out a sigh as he got the door open, he honestly just hoped she was okay. 

He was pulled from his thoughts of (y/n) when he saw a figure sitting on the couch next to us Aunt May. Nonother than the Tony Stark. (y/n) said that she knew Tony Stark and some of the other Avengers, but she never really said anything more than that on the subject. He was confused and didn’t really follow where Mr. Stark was going with the whole grant thing until he asked to talk to Peter alone. Once the door to the young Spider-Man’s bedroom was shut, the whole vibe changed. 

Mr. Stark spit out the meatloaf that Aunt May had made and started to look around the room, “Ahhh what do we have here? Retro tech huh? Thrift store? Salvation Army?” He asked while looking at Peter’s computer.

Peter played with his hands, “Ah… the garbage actually.”

“You’re a dumpster diver?”

“Yeah, I was- Anyway look, I definitely did not apply for your grant,” Peter said honestly. 

“Ah-uh me first,” Tony said, cutting off the young superhero, “quick question of the variety, that’s you. Right?” He asked, showing Peter the video of him as Spider-Man. 

Peter crossed his arms, “Umm. No. What do you-”

“Yeah. Look at you go. Wow nice catch, that’s 3,000 pounds at 40 miles an hour. That’s not easy. You’ve got mad skills. And Oh! Look who’s running game next to you, Soul Sorceress. Look kid, I know that Soul Sorceress is a 15-year-old girl named (y/n) Barnes, she’s your girlfriend, and I know that you are Spider-Man because she told me,” He said as he picked up a walking stick and pushed it up into the vent, releasing the Spider-Man suit that was hidden in there. Peter ran and grabbed it, immediately throwing it into the laundry bin, “She also told me where to find your suit.” Peter’s head was spinning around. His girlfriend had told the Tony Stark about him? He thought they agreed to keep it just between them. He let out a sigh, he was confused as well, when did she have time to talk to Mr. Stark in the first place? Did he know where she is? “Who else knows? Anybody?”

Peter shook his head, “Just her and you apparently.”

“Is it a bad thing that I know?” Tony asked. 

Peter shrugged, “Not really I guess. I just thought we were keeping the fact that I was Spider-Man between us.”

“She was just trying to look out for you, the world is a dangerous place when you don’t have superpowers. Let alone when you have powers like yours.”

Peter nodded, “Do you know where she is?” 

Tony gave him a confused look, “What do you mean? Doesn’t she live right upstairs? Didn’t she go to school with you today?”

Peter shook his head, “The day before yesterday she got a call and then just vanished. She texted me and told me she was fine and there was something she had to do, but I’d feel better if I knew where she was.”

Tony’s jaw clenched, “Steve,” He said under his breath, “How much do you know about her family?”

“Not a whole lot since I never met any of them, but she always likes to tell stories that her dad told her about her great-grandfather during World War II.”

“Well, that great-grandfather of hers is uncontrollable and dangerous. He’s the main suspect in the United Nations bombing and he as well as Captain America are now missing.”

“Do you think she’s with them?” Peter asked. 

“It’s a possibility, or Steve might have asked her to hide out until this blows over or he might be having her do something for him, but whatever the case that’s not why I’m here. Got a passport?” 

“No, no I’ve never traveled.”

“You ever been to Germany?”

“No.”

“Oh, you’ll love it.”

“I can’t go to Germany,” Peter said firmly.

“Why?” Tony questioned.

“... I got homework.”

Tony rolled his eyes, “I’m gonna pretend you didn’t say that.”

“I-I’m being serious! I can’t just drop out of school!”

Tony moved towards the door, “If you want to find (y/n) this is probably your best bet. It is going to be dangerous, I should probably tell Aunt Hottie I’m taking you and-”

Peter whipped up his hand and threw a web to trap Tony’s hand on the doorknob, “Don’t tell Aunt May.”

“Alright Spider-Man,” He replied, agreeing with Peter. There was a moment of awkward silence before Tony rolled his eyes, “Get me out of this.”

“Sorry I’ll get it,” Peter said as he moved to get the antidote. Once Tony was free of the web he smooth talked his way into taking Peter for the weekend with Aunt May and then made his way out of the apartment. He pulled out his phone, pulling up the traitorous Captain’s phone number. He sent one text, and that was all he really needed to get his message across;  
‘If anything happens to (y/n) while she’s with you, it’s on your head, Rogers. I hope you realize what you’ve done by involving her. It was the wrong move.’

~ ~ ~ 

Some time passed and you had gotten everything together. You, Bucky, Steve, and Sam showed up at the Berlin airport. You were in the parking lot for a few minutes, none of you really talking before a white van pulled up a few spaces away from you. You all made your way out of the car and over to the van. Out of the van jumped Wanda and Clint. You smiled brightly and ran over to them, “Birdbrain!” You squealed joyfully and hugged Clint as tight as you could. 

“Hey kid, I’ve missed you!” He said happily as he hugged you back. Bucky watched, a bit confused, but Steve threw him a reassuring glance. 

You pulled back from Clint and hugged Wanda. You guys had gotten to know each other a little bit from the times you visited the compound, but you two got even closer after trading phone numbers. She was your best female friend aside from MJ. “How are you doing (y/n)?” She asked.

“Pretty good, and you?” 

“Better now that I’m out of the compound. Tony was keeping me under lock and key with Vision as my guard,” Wanda replied. 

“Ew. How’d you get out?” You questioned, knowing full well that Wanda would never want to hurt vision. In fact, you knew that the Scarlet Witch had a bit of a crush on the strange character. 

“With my help of course!” Clint stated proudly, “I kicked Vision’s ass!”

Wanda rolled her eyes, “That’s not how I remember it.”

“Shhhh Wanda I’m trying to seem cool in front of the kid.”

“But Clint I already think you’re cool,” you said with a giggle. 

Steve interrupted the conversation, “Thanks for having my back, both of you.”

Clint smiled, “hey man you’re doing me a favor.”

“It was time to get off my ass,” Wanda said as she smirked at Clint, it made you think it was some kind of inside joke that you didn’t understand.

“How ‘bout our other recruit?” Steve asked. 

“We have another person?” You questioned.

“Yep, he’s raring to go,” Clint replied as he moved to open the sliding door on the van, “I put a little coffee in him, but he should be good.”

There was a man lying across the back seat sound asleep. He was startled awake by the sound of the door slamming. You looked at his soul, a bit damaged, but interesting. You smiled, you guys had a pretty good team going. “What time zone is this?” He asked as he hopped out of the van.

“Berlin in May, so it’s Central European Summer Time,” You answered. 

“Aren’t you a little young to be a part of this?” He asked. You flare your nostrils and glared, you didn’t like to be called ‘too young’ for something, after all, you had seen in your life. You held your hand out in front of you and twisted it around. Orange sparks came off the tips of your fingers as he grabbed for his stomach. You weren’t doing anything forcefully, it would feel more weird to him than anything. You were using your soul wavelength to make his soul move around. “What the hell?! What are you doing?!”

“Moving your soul around inside of your chest, feels weird doesn’t it?” You said with a small giggle, people always made the weird faces when you did this.

“Yeah! This feels so weird! Like someone is tickling me from the inside!” 

“Say I’m not ‘a little young to be a part of this’ and I’ll stop.”

Clint and Wanda were trying to hold in laughs, Sam and Bucky were confused as hell, and Steve was just a bit annoyed with the childish antics. “Enough (y/n), I think he’s learned his lesson,” Steve said.

You let go with a small sigh and the adults went on to talk about the plan. You weren’t really paying too much attention until you had to get changed. You put on your costume, an all black suit that you had made using Tony’s tech for yourself, that had orange lacing the seems and dancing around some of the bigger sections. No one had seen it yet because you hadn’t had a reason to wear it, but you realized that you couldn’t find the mask. You didn’t have much time to think about what to do because Sam and Bucky told you to come with them. You stayed between the pair as you walked, the three of you find a place to lay low and watch the action down on the main field. You watched as Steve became more and more surrounded by heroes, but you were incredibly shocked to see Spider-Man down there. Your boyfriend was down there in a suit that was no doubt made by Tony, you started to panic.

“Bucky,” you whispered. 

“What is it, kid?” He asked in just ask quiet of a tone. 

“I couldn’t find my mask and the kid in the red and blue, I know him really well, I can’t let him see my face. I don’t know if I can fight him...”

Bucky could sense how worried you were, “Hey, relax it’s going to be okay,” He pulled his old mask out of its strap at his hip, “You can use this, I just cleaned it and as for fighting him, you don’t have to, just stay back from him.”

You nodded and put on the mask, nodding, “Okay.”

“Okay, you ready to move kid,” Sam asked.

“I’m ready,” You answered, “Let’s do this.”


	4. An Unfortunate Event

“You’ve been busy,” Steve said after Spider-Man had landed and taken his shield. He knew who the kid in the suit was, but he knew it probably wasn’t the best idea to say anything. He suddenly felt a little bad for pinning you against your boyfriend, but there’s no way he could have known Tony would get him involved. 

“And you’ve been a complete idiot,” Tony spat. Steve could hear the anger in his voice, “Dragging in Clint, rescuing Wanda from a place she doesn’t even want to leave, a safe place, I’m trying to keep,” Tony paused for a moment and took a deep breath, “I’m trying to keep you from tearing the Avengers apart.”

Steve stood his ground firmly, “You did that when you signed.”

Tony was fuming at this point, “Alright I’m done,” He said in a quiet voice before he turned back towards Steve and yelled, “You’re gonna turn Barnes over and you’re gonna come with us, now because it’s us. We’re a squad of J-sock guys with no compunction about being impolite.” There were a couple of tense moments of silence, “Come on,” Tony said under his breath.

Steve was looking off to the side before he got a message in his ear from Sam who was standing next to you, “We found it. Their quinjet's in hangar five, north runway.”

Clint took Steve’s next motions as his cue, he shot an arrow past Steve and caught the attention of the angry Iron Man, “Alright Lang,” Steve said, telling the Ant-Man to act. 

“Hey guys, something-” He grew to full size from Steve’s shield, and pulled it away from the small hero holding it.

“What-What the hell was that?” Rhodes asked.

Scott made his way over to Steve a smile on his face even though no one could see it through his mask, “I believe this is yours, Captain America.”

“Aw great,” Tony said with a sigh.

“Alright there’s two in the parking deck, one of them’s Maximoff, I’m gonna grab her,” Tony said as he flew up into the air. “Rody you wanna take Cap?” The fighting between sides had just begun at the airport. Things were about to get a lot messier now that it was clear that Steve was not going to surrender without a fight. 

Rhodes got up into the air as well, “Got three in the terminal, Wilson, Barnes, and one I can’t identify.”

“Barnes is mine!” T’Challa started running towards the terminal, but was soon met with Captain America. Steve knew he had to keep the Black Panther away from Bucky, he knew he was going to be the problem of the group. Steve threw off Rhodes and was keeping T’Challa busy, so he didn’t notice the Spider-boy had started to swing towards the terminal. 

You looked up when you heard something land on the glass, to your slight surprise, it was Peter. He was using his powers to crawl along the outside of the building. Your breath hitched as you continued to run. You used your powers to switch the frequency of your soul wavelength so Peter wouldn’t recognize you as Bucky and Sam noticed him.

“What the hell is that?” Bucky asked as he looked to the blue and red suited boy.

Sam rolled his eyes, “Everyone’s got a gimmick now.”

“Watch out for his webs,” You said, warning the two men of your boyfriend’s power. He was already a decent fighter and he was very strong, but those webs could really cause some trouble for you three if you weren’t careful. 

“His what?” Sam asked, but you didn’t have time to respond. Suddenly Peter swung out from the roof using his webs. He picked up enough speed to launch himself at the wall and break the glass between him and you. 

“Aw crap,” You mumbled under your breath. You kept running, but you soon had to stop. Peter used his swing to kick down Sam, then he immediately went for you. Your great grandfather knew you didn’t want to fight this guy. He didn’t know the history between the two of you really, but he wanted to respect your wishes as much as he could. He also just wanted to protect you. He had no idea what you were capable of or what your limit was, but the last thing he wanted to see was you getting hurt; emotionally or physically. Thus, he jumped in front of you, taking a hard swing at Peter. You held your breath, afraid Bucky with his super soldier strength might actually be able to hurt Peter. 

To your slight surprise, Peter caught the punch. He took a second to look closely at Bucky’s arm, “You have a metal arm? That is awesome dude!” You didn’t really have time to react to Peter’s geekiness before Sam opened up his falcon wings and grabbed Peter. You and Bucky looked at each other before you began to run after them, “You have the right to remain silent!” Peter yelled as he fought with Sam in the air. 

You rolled your eyes, “You’re really friends with this guy?” Bucky asked.

You blushed a little bit, figuring this was not the ideal time to tell your new found family member about your fairly long-term boyfriend, “Yeah, he’s a nerd, but he’s a fun nerd to hang out with.”

“Like Steve,” Bucky said with a smile.

“Yeah like Steve,” You said with a small laugh as Peter swung away from Sam. You watched as he hung from the rafters and fought with the Falcon. You ran behind Bucky, your pace not able to match his. 

You ducked behind a poll and Bucky did the same a bit ahead of you. He flung a sign towards Peter, but Peter caught it and you could feel his smirk even though you couldn’t see it, “Hey buddy I think you lost this,” He said as he threw the sign back at the poll Bucky was hiding behind. The poll came crashing down, and Sam kicked Peter out of his place near the ceiling, but his lead didn’t last for long. Peter used his webs to swing away from Sam. Then he used them to short out Sam’s wings. You let out a sigh, you told him to watch out for the webs. You started running towards the scene to hopefully help Sam. Peter webbed Sam to the ledge as he stood up, “Those wings carbon fiber?” 

Sam looked at his hands, “This stuff coming out of you?” He questioned back.

“That would explain the agility flexibility ratio which, gotta say that’s awesome!” 

“I don’t know if you’ve been in a fight before, but there’s not usually this much talking,” Sam shot.

Peter nodded, “Right, sorry, my bad.” You smiled a little bit at the awkwardness of your boyfriend. He was so cute and didn’t really know how the fight was supposed to go. You and Bucky made it over to the pair as Peter swung and threw all three of you over the edge. You were a little disoriented when you landed, you were also surprised that Peter had managed to do that. He then webbed all three of you to the ground, crap. You looked up at your boyfriend who was perched on something a ways up, “Guys look, I’d love to keep this up, but I’ve only got one job here today and I gotta impress Mr. Stark so… I’m really sorry,” He said as he stuck out his hand to web you some more. You braced yourself for it, but out of nowhere you heard “What?!” and then a yell coming from Peter. You opened your eyes to see him being flown through the glass by Sam’s drone. 

“You couldn’t have done that earlier?” Bucky asked.

Sam was silent for a moment, “I hate you.”

“I told you guys to watch out for his webs,” You snapped.

“Looks like you didn’t take your own advice kid,” Sam said snarkily.

You groaned as you tried to move to reach into your pocket, “You okay (y/n)?” Bucky asked, worried the fall might have hurt you.

“Aside from the fact that I’m definitely going to feel this in the morning, yeah I’m fine,” You said as you reached what you needed. Peter’s webs were hard to break through unless you had the antidote, which you happened to have a vial of in your suit pocket. 

You poured some out using your free fingers to get your right hand out, then you used that hand to free the other one, “What the hell is that stuff?” Sam asked, referring to the vial you had as you stood up. 

You poured a little bit on the strands around Bucky’s metal hand, being unsure of how the antidote would react to the metal, you didn’t want to get any directly on him. Once he was free you moved to Sam, “Chemicals that reverse the effects of Peter’s webs.”

“Does it come out of him?”

You laughed, “No. We engineered it after he got his superpowers from a radioactive spider.”

Bucky and Sam looked at each other, “How did he- nevermind. We have to get back on it,” Bucky said.

You nodded, “Let’s get out there then boys!”

~ ~ ~

There was a little bit more fighting to be done before you were able to meet up with Steve and the rest of your team. Everyone started running towards the quinjet. Steve yelled to you, Bucky, and Sam, to come on and join the formation. You had a clear path out until Vision showed up. He used his powers to cut a line in the concrete, effectively stopping you all in your tracks, “Captain Rogers. I know you believe what you are doing is right,” he said as the heroes on the other side started to gather, “but for the collective good, you must surrender now.”

The two teams looked at each other, the tension between the two sides building, “What do we do Cap?” Sam asked. You lock eyes with Natasha for a brief moment, you can tell by the look her eyes she knows it’s you under the mask, but she doesn’t seem to do much about it. You two had been very close before all of this started, she was one of your teachers and one of your friends. The look she was giving you told you she felt sorry for you. 

You looked towards Steve for his answer. His eyes were focused on the other team, “We fight.”

Your team started to move towards the other team. Natasha let out a sigh, “This isn't gonna end well,” she said as the other team started to move towards you.

“They’re not stopping,” Peter said in a bit of a panicky voice.

Tony powered up his weapons system, “Neither are we.”

When the two teams collided, it seemed like a bit of a blur at first. It seemed like everyone was just one giant blur of motion. You, at first, tried to stay towards the outside of the battle, one for your own safety and two to avoid coming in contact with Peter. This tactic, however, did not really seem to work well. Whenever would try to jump in and help, Peter would get in the way and you’d end up facing him one on one. After a few times of this happening, the two of you ended up getting separated from the rest of the group. You were going back and forth, punching, kicking, and dodging, trying to avoid his face. He was trying to talk to you, but you were too focused on your movements and keeping your soul wavelength changed to speak. Peter may not have soul related powers, but he could always feel your presence, at this point, it was just as important as blocking his attacks. 

That was until everything slowed down. It was as if time itself had slowed to an almost halt when Peter’s fist collide with your lip and the buckle holding the mask to your face fell out of place on impact. You saw it fall towards the ground in slow motion, there was nothing you could do now. You looked towards Peter as he ripped off his mask, “(y/n)? What the- why are you here? What are you doing here? You’re on their side?! I was so worried about you!”

You panicked, “I’m sorry Peter… I couldn’t tell you where I was going because I knew you wouldn’t approve… I’m so so sorry,” You said as you picked up the mask and started to run away as you put it back on your face. 

Peter felt dizzy and confused. He has been worried sick about you, thinking something bad could have happened to you, but no. You had just gone to join the other side, but why? He cleared his head and threw his mask back on, “Mr. Stark!” He shouted over the comms system. 

“What kid?” He answered.

“The unidentified person, it’s (y/n)!”

Tony sighed, “Aw crap. Hey guys,” he said over the comm system, “try not to hurt the girl in the orange and black suit, she’s 15.”

“Jesus where did Cap find her?” Rhodes asked.

“Queens,” Tony answered before getting back to fighting. 

You were again weaving through the crowd, trying to keep it together and help where you could when out of the corner of your eye you spotted Bucky fighting with the Black Panther. 

T’Challa threw him up against a pile of wooden crates and he was about to slice his throat when you reached out your hand and grabbed T’Challa’s soul. “What the-?” 

“Don’t you dare hurt my great grandfather impudent feline!” You shouted as you twisted your hand much harder than you had when you messed with Scott earlier. 

T’Challa crumpled to his knees, giving Bucky a way out. 

“Thanks,” He said as you two started to run away.

“Don’t mention it,” You answered as you went back to the mess of fighting.

~ ~ ~

A few more minutes when by until you, Steve, and Bucky were hiding out away from the action. You were pretty much exhausted at this point, Bucky could definitely see it as your team talked about what to do. You all knew that you were not all getting out of here and the rest of your team was willing to give up to make sure that Steve and Bucky could get out. “Yeah, that sounds good. You two should go stop those bad guys in Siberia, we can take these guys here!”

Bucky and Steve looked at each other before looking back at you, “You’re coming with us kid,” Bucky said.

“Yeah. You’re the youngest, you’ve got a lot of life ahead of you and the world doesn’t know your identity. You should stay out of prison if possible,” Steve also answered.

You nodded, “Okay.”

“Don’t worry, we’ll keep you safe and make sure you get home (y/n),” Bucky said with a reassuring pat on your back. You felt blood on your lip as you got ready to run. Peter had really gotten you good.

“Alright Sam, what’s the plan?” Steve asked, getting back on focus.

“We need a diversion, something big,” He responded.

“I got something kinda big,” Scott said, “But I can’t hold it very long. On my signal, run like hell and if I tear myself in half, don’t come back for me.”

“He’s gonna tear himself in half?” Bucky questioned.

“You sure about this Scott?”

“I do it all the time, I mean once, in a lab, and I passed out,” Scott replied. There were a few dull seconds before Scott was suddenly huge man in the middle of the airfield. 

“I guess that’s the signal,” Steve said in shock before he started to run for the Quinjet. You and Bucky followed after him, though Bucky was much faster than you. You ran as hard as you could, you knew how fast you were able to run was going to affect if you got out of here or not. Your legs were yelling at you to stop and your head was feeling a little dizzy after the blood loss from your lip, but you kept at it. You heard a noise and looked up to see Vision flying over you three. He stopped at the hangar, using his power to knock down part of the building. For a brief moment you relaxed and slowed your pace, but Wanda quickly used her powers to stop the building. You picked up again, falling more and more behind Bucky and Steve, even though you were desperately trying to keep up. Everything was going fine as you made your way under the part that Wanda was holding up until Rhodes used sonic waves to throw her off balance. She dropped the building parts and it came crashing down. You made a leap of faith as far as you could, but it wasn’t far enough to stay out of harm’s way. The only thing that could be heard on the airfield at that moment was a single heartbreaking sound;

Your blood-curdling scream.


	5. Loss

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> VERY IMPORTANT: This chapter is pretty intense, if hardcore angst/drama/sadness is not your thing, you have been warned.

Bucky and Steve both whipped around as the heart-wrenching sound made it to their ears. They were both equally horrified at the site. You had jumped, attempting to get yourself out of the way of the falling building, but you didn’t make. Most of your body was free, but your left leg was caught underneath all the rubble. The pair of super soldiers were frozen, both of them affected not only by their own emotions, but also the frantic energy that was coming off of you. You had the ability to manipulate your own soul wavelength, it felt like it was a series of rocks were hitting Bucky in the gut. You clearly weren’t doing this on purpose, it was your body telling you to panic.

Bucky ran back over to you as you cried, reaching out for him. He took your hand in his, “It’s gonna be okay, just hold on for me okay?”

You nodded weakly, trying to stay as calm as possible. Bucky felt your body trembling, your nerves and muscles in shock. He could see what was causing you pain, your leg incredibly mangled and trapped between two iron polls that had once been holding this place together. Steve and Natasha were soon on either side of Bucky, trying to get a good look at what they were working with. 

Even though you were trying to stay calm you were completely panicking, you could feel your physical body and your soul going into shock. You had experienced injuries before, you had been in terrifying situations like the Battle of New York, but none of that compared to this. Bucky looked between the two of them, “Steve you and I have to lift this stuff off of her, Natasha, you’ll have to pull her out.”

“Let me help, that’s a lot of weight to hold,” said a voice from behind them.

None of them had realized in all of the chaos that T’Challa had also made it through into the hangar. Bucky gave him a look, “Do you actually want to help or do you just want to use my vulnerability at this moment to kill me?”

Everyone was a bit taken back by Bucky’s harsh words, but no one said anything on the matter other than T’Challa, “I want to help, she’s young and doesn’t deserve to be in this situation,” He said as he moved to pick up one of the pieces that trapped you. Bucky let go of your hand and moved as well. Steve did the same, and Natasha grabbed your hands, you tried to hold on to her, but you were so weak that your hands won’t close very far around hers. She just gripped you tighter. Everyone got ready and on a count, the three men lifted the bearings and Natasha pulled you free. You felt a little bit better once you weren’t trapped anymore, but your wavelength was still going everywhere and your body still ached. Natasha let go of you and you were soon wrapped in Bucky’s arms. He held you close to his chest, Steve beside the two of you. You didn’t want to see your leg, you knew it was going to be bad. You could see T’Challa grimacing. “We have to get the bleeding to stop.”

Natasha sat back and thought for a moment, “There’s a first aid kit in the quinjet, there’s probably something-”

“What are you waiting for? Go get it,” Bucky spat in her direction. She normally wouldn’t take that kind of command, but the sight of you made her heart go soft. 

“Bucky…” You said weakly, “Don’t be mean to Tasha. She’s a good person, besides-” you paused, taking a gaspy breath, “I’m going to… to be fine.”

Bucky took your hand in his, “You feel like ice (y/n),” his tone seemed almost scolding at first listen, but you could hear it. The terror and the sadness in his voice. You could hear it in all of their voices as they talked. They were all scared for you, but not as scared as you were for yourself. You were feeling panicked and alert, yet drowsy and dizzy at the same time. Your adrenaline and your blood loss were fighting for dominance. At this point, you weren’t sure which would win. 

Natasha made it back to you all before you even really realized she was gone. She popped open the top of the first aid kit, digging around it in until she found gauze, bandages, and alcohol to clean it out. She moved next to T’Challa, handing him some gauze to try blot up the blood. You winced on contact, your eyes shutting tightly, your body tensing, and your soul shooting out another distressed wavelength. Steve grabbed your hand that Bucky wasn’t holding, “Hold on (y/n), it’s going to be over before you know it, just keep breathing. Focus on me and Buck,” He said in a calm voice. 

You nodded, looking away from your leg and what the pair was doing down there. You knew they had to clean it out as much as the could, slow the bleeding, and apply pressure to it. You focused on Bucky and Steve like he said to as much as you could, but your vision was a bit hazy. After what felt like forever, T’Challa’s voice rang out, “As long as you don’t move her too much and keep pressure on it she should be okay. She has lost a good amount of blood though, she needs to go to the hospital.”

You watched Bucky and Steve’s faces, they knew they had to take you with them. If you went with Tony you’d be put in prison, and they didn’t want that for you, “We’ll get her to one,” Bucky said.

T’Challa gave him a stern look back, “My sister is an excellent doctor, let me take her back to Wakanda.”

“How about we meet you there after we take care of some business in Siberia, Bucky isn’t going to let her go with you,” Steve replied honestly.

“If that’s the chance you want to take,” He replied as he stood up, “I’ll see you there Captain, and Barnes, you have to turn yourself in if you want my help.”

~ ~ ~

Outside, when the scream rang through the air, everyone froze. Their stomachs all dropped. Rhodes landed, in shock. He had thrown Wanda off balance in a quick attempt to stop Cap and Barnes from getting away, but he hadn’t even thought about the girl running along behind them. He looked to Wanda, she was covering her mouth with her hands, her eyes beginning to water. His mouth went dry. He didn’t know what to do at this moment, “Rhodey? Talk to me, what just happened?” Tony rang in over the comms system.

“I-I…” he stuttered. 

“That was (y/n)! What’s going on?” Peter asked. Tony heard his voice crack.

“Wanda? What-” Clint started as he made it over to the Scarlet Witch. He stopped when he saw her face.

“Vision knocked down the building, so I was holding the building for them, but then Rhodes threw me off and… I don’t think (y/n) made it through,” she answered through he sobs. 

“What?!” Peter said as he made it to the scene. He looked towards Rhodes, “You- You did this?!”

“I…” Rhodes couldn’t seem to find any words. He didn’t know what the connection was between Spider-Man and the girl, but he could hear the anger in his voice. Vision landed next to Rhodes, a bit confused as to why the fighting between the two sides ceased. Peter ripped off his mask, it suddenly felt suffocating. His mind was spinning, the blue sky above him and the building around him felt like the were whorling at a fast pace. You may have been on the other side of the fight, but that didn’t matter to him, you were one of the most important people in his life. He needed to see you, he need to see your face, he had to know if you were still alive. 

He glared at Rhodes one more time as his vision became blurry from tears. He could feel your soul in pain, he didn’t know what he could do. He started to run towards the hangar, but Tony immediately stopped him, “LET ME GO MR. STARK! I HAVE TO SEE HER!” He screamed.

Tony grimaced, his grip on Peter stayed solid as he opened his mask, “Peter… You know that’s a bad idea.”

Peter had tears running down his face at this point, “Please Mr. Stark.”

“No,” He said semi-harshly, “I can’t let you do that.”

Vision was watching the scene, genuinely still lost, “Why did the fighting cease?”

Clint immediately shot an arrow at him, of course, it went through him, but that didn’t matter to the archer at this moment, “Shut it robot.”

“Vision now is really not the time for a lesson on emotions,” Tony replied.

Peter was still trying to wiggle free when he thought of an idea, “Mr. Stark?” He asked, gaining Tony’s attention.

“Yeah, kid?” He asked, turning back to look at the young hero.

Peter took the opportunity to spray him in the face with his webs. Tony was stunned and blinded by this, letting go of Peter’s arm. Peter instantly started to run toward the hangar. He had never moved so fast in his life, until his body wasn’t under his control anymore. He looked back to see Wanda using her powers to hold him back. She pulled him back towards her. He didn’t want to go back, but he didn’t seem to have a choice. Wanda pulled him all the way back to her. 

Wanda pulled Peter into a hug, no longer using her powers to keep him there. Peter didn’t know much about Wanda, just that she had superpowers and she was close with you. He hugged her back tightly, crying into her shoulder. She cried on his, both hoping that she was okay. 

“(y/n) is injured badly, Steve and Bucky are taking her with them, then they are heading to Wakanda for treatment,” Natasha said through the comms system.  
Peter and Wanda could both hear it since they were so close together, “Do you think she’s going to be okay Ms. Assassin lady?” Peter asked, Natasha could hear the sadness in his voice. 

She was silent for a moment, “In all honesty, we’ll just have to see.”

The next thing Peter knew, the quinjet holding you was taking off.

~ ~ ~

Steve was flying the Quinjet while Bucky held you tightly in his arms. You weren’t sure how long it had been since you took off, but you were sure that this situation wasn’t ideal. You could barely stay awake, your vision felt hazy and doubled and your whole body ached. You were definitely calmer than when you first got freed, but you were still shaky. What if Bucky, Steve, Nat, and T’Challa hadn’t been there? What if you had just been trapped, left there with no way-

“Hey (y/n), I need you to stay focused on me, we just have to make a quick stop at the base in Siberia and then I promise we’ll get you to the best hospital we can okay?” Bucky said, pulling you from your thoughts.

You smiled and nodded weakly. One of Bucky’s hands was wrapped around your back to keep you stable and the other he was using to apply pressure to your leg, though you really couldn’t feel much on your leg at this point. 

Once Steve got the Quinjet on autopilot he came and sat down next to you and Bucky. He moved to give Bucky a break from putting pressure on your leg, Bucky’s other arm was now around you as well. “I’m sorry I dragged you into this (y/n),” Steve apologized honestly. He felt like what had happened was his fault.

You shook your head slowly, “Steve don’t start, if you hadn’t dragged me into it you know Stark would have.”

“But if you were on his side you-”

“Would have switched to your side and ended up here anyway,” you paused for a moment, the suddenness of your tone taking your breath away, “it was my own actions… along with Vision and whoever stopped Wanda, that got me here… It’s not your fault.”

Bucky and Steve both sighed, knowing you were right, “They’ll pay for this (y/n), I’ll make sure of it,” Bucky seethed.

“Your aggression… is not helping your case, Mr. Barnes… You don’t want to give the government another reason to hate you… do you?” you asked.

He looked away from you, not knowing what to say. “You know she’s right Buck,” Steve answered, “You can’t go after them for this, but I’m sure Stark will give them hell.”

You laughed a bit before wincing at the wave of pain that hit you, “Very true Captain, very true. Stark doesn’t like my attitude very much… but he does care.”  
“Look at you, still thinking logically,” Steve said with a smile.

“What can I say? I’ve always been good at it,” You said with a soft smile before your face suddenly fell. As you thought about your logical thinking, and therefore your academics, Peter’s face came flashing across your mind.

“What’s wrong?” Bucky asked.

“Do you think he’ll end things with me because of this?” You asked generally, but it was more pointed at Steve. Bucky was pretty much unaware of your relationship status. 

“Are you kidding (y/n)? That kid is head over heels for you, I’m sure the only thing he’s thinking about right now is if you’re okay,” Steve answered, “Don’t worry too much about that kind of stuff right now though, you need to focus on you.”

You nodded, “Okay… I just… He’s always been there for me and then I suddenly went behind his back and-”

“Like I said (y/n), just relax and focus on you, Peter isn’t going anywhere,” Steve responded, cutting off your panic. You were pretty sure that he was right, but there was still doubt in your mind. 

Before Bucky had time to ask his questions about this ‘Peter’ character you two were talking about, you all felt the quinjet start to go into it’s landing sequence. Steve got up from his position on the ground and headed over to the controls, while Bucky moved one of his hands back to apply pressure. 

Once you landed, Steve and Bucky gently moved you to sit with your legs stretched out on the bench on the side wall. You moved your arms weakly, applying as much pressure as you could. “We’ll be back before you know it, okay kid?” Bucky said as he gently squeezed your shoulder.

“Okay, I’ll see you guys soon,” you answered with a small smile. 

“Whatever you do (y/n), don’t move,” Steve warned.

You rolled your eyes, “Yeah okay I get it, I won’t move, how hard can it be?”


	6. Safe

It had only been a few minutes since Steve and Bucky’s departure when you felt a sudden shift in the soul wavelengths around you. You were using the little bit of control you had over your powers at the moment to track Bucky and Steve. They had meant up with Tony and everything seemed to be going fine. They moved towards a big chamber where you had originally assumed the other super soldiers were being kept, but you couldn’t feel their wavelengths so you weren’t entirely sure what was going on at first. Then, you sensed a soul you didn’t recognized. You could tell by his wavelength that he was angry and hateful, but your stomach didn’t drop until you felt the rage fill Tony’s wavelength to the brim. 

You could feel his anguish, though you weren’t sure over what. He started to attack Bucky, Steve trying to keep them separated, but he seemed to be failing. You started to panic, what had the hateful soul told Tony to make him lash out against Bucky? What could Bucky have possibly done to get this much rage out of Tony?

You put one of your hands to the comms device shoved in your ear, “Steve? What’s going on? Why’s Tony lost it?” You asked.

Steve grunted, the clashing sound of his shield hitting Tony’s suit breaking your heart, “Bucky did something a long time ago… that Tony didn’t know about.”

You rolled your eyes, “More specific please Stevie.”

“Who the hell are you talking to right now?” You heard Tony yell. 

“Y/N, now is not a good time. We’ll explain-”

“And I shouldn’t just kill Barnes, I should beat the crap out of you for bringing (y/n) into this! She-” You heard Tony shout before the line cut out.

You lowered your hand, shocked and confused. You didn’t know what to think or what to do at this moment. You looked towards your leg, if you did nothing they were going to tear each other apart… You couldn’t let that happen. 

You swung around slowly, letting both your legs dangle off the side of the bench. Your leg seared in pain, the slight movement was enough to send a shot through the entirety of your nervous system. You grimaced, “son of a bitch,” you mumbled under your breath.

The first step was somehow more painful. It wasn’t just your leg screaming at you, it was your entire body. You ignored the pain though, your brain’s focus switched to Steve, Bucky, and Tony. Tony was still raging on, hitting Steve and Bucky repeatedly. You gulped. You didn’t know if you had enough strength to hold Tony off from them, but you had to try. 

You don’t really remember the pain of running, more like limping through the base, following the sounds of shouting and clanging metal, you just remember the sight when you finally arrived at the fight scene. You arrival was unnoticed. Bucky was laying on the ground, not moving at all, while Steve and Tony were going back and forth, taking turns punching each other. The sight shattered your heart. Tony had saved your life years ago, he introduced you to Steve, he made your life so much better, but now he was a rage monster, hell bent on destroying both Steve and Bucky. Steve smashed the chest of Tony’s suit, that was your last straw.

“STOP IT! STOP IT NOW!” you cried out.

Your shrill voice broke through all the noises of fighting, and suddenly both Tony and Steve were completely still. They both looked over at you, completely horrified. The adrenaline was pumping through your body, you didn’t dare to look down at your leg. “Holy shit, your leg kid,” Tony said in a quiet voice, his shock was clear.

“I told you not to move (y/n),” Steve scolded, but his was also clearly surprised that you had managed to get up here too. You were about to shout at them again, but your adrenaline decided it was time to run out. Your body couldn’t hold up your weight anymore. You started to fall, not even having time to think about catching yourself, before Steve’s arms were wrapped tightly around you, “I told you not to move… dammit kid…”

“Did you really think… I was going to sit there and… let you tear each other apart?” you asked, before your vision became spotty and black.

“Bucky! We have to go now! We’re going to lose her if we don’t hurry!”

~ ~ ~

“I promise my sister will do everything she can to help the girl, you’re just going to have to give her time,” T’Challa said to the two men as they sat around a table in the palace. 

“Thank you your highness, it means a lot that you are willing to help her,” Steve answered with a small smile.

“It’s no problem Captain. As for you Mr. Barnes, I owe you an apology, I almost killed the wrong man.”

Bucky looked over to him with a deadpan face, “It wasn’t the first time someone tried to kill me and it probably won’t be the last.”

T’Challa nodded solemnly, “Still, is there anything else I can do to help you find peace? Any way for me to make it up to you?”

“A place to stay until (y/n) is healed. Then… with all this technology at your disposal, do you have a way you can cryo-freeze me?” Bucky asked.

Steve looked over at him in shock, “What? Buck you can’t be serious.”

Bucky had the same deadpan look, “Everything they programed is still in my brain, until we can figure out a way to undo that, I think it’s best that I go under, I don’t want to hurt anyone else.”

“I’ll see what I can do, but I don’t think it should be a problem Mr. Barnes,” T’Challa said as the general entered the room. She looked to the young Prince, as if to tell him it was time to go, “I’ll leave you gentlemen here, if you need anything don’t be afraid to ask and I’ll keep you updated on Miss Barnes status.”

“Thank you your highness,” Steve replied as the prince left the room. After he did, the smile on the soldier’s face fell as he turned back to face Bucky.

“Going back under? Bucky (y/n) is going to be devastated,” Steve said with a bit of anger in his voice, “Besides, I already lost you once, I don’t want to again.”

“I just think it’s the best option for now, I don’t want to hurt you, or her and right now I just might without meaning too.” Both men were quiet for a moment, not knowing what to say to the other, “Do you think she’ll be okay Steve?” 

Steve was still quiet for another moment too long before he shook his head slowly, “I don’t know.” Bucky put his face in his hands, he had so many feelings right now, he didn’t know what to do or what to say. He didn’t know how to talk to Steve anymore, he didn’t know if you were going to be okay, and every part of him hurt. “Maybe we should call it a night. We’re both tired and stressed and our rooms are right down the hall.”

Bucky just simply nodded. Steve took this as his cue to stand up, so the two men were soon on their way to their bedrooms for the next little while. The two rooms were next door to each other and only one hall over from the elevator down to where you were. It was great location by Bucky’s standards. “Goodnight Buck.”

“Night Steve,” Bucky replied solemnly before he headed into the small room that the prince had pointed out to him earlier. When Steve had suggested heading to bed, Bucky had doubted that he’d be able to sleep, but once his head hit the pillow for once in his long life he was out like a light. 

~ ~ ~

Steve’s light sleep was interrupted by loud sounds coming from the next room over. There was a mix of vocal noises and sounds of tossing and turning. Steve was all too familiar with these sounds, the sounds of a nightmare. He pulled himself out of bed and exited his room, only to stop when he reached Bucky’s door. The noises that once sounded like hoarse quiet screams through the wall now sounded like soft sobbing through the door. Steve pushed open the cracked door gently to find Bucky curled up in bed, he was surprised to see that the Winter Soldier was sound asleep, tear streaks decorating his face. “Bucky?” Steve called gently, he didn’t want to startle him.

Bucky’s eyes almost instantly shot open, his sleep being very light as well, “Steve?” He asked frantically, wiping under his eyes. 

“Yeah Bucky? What is it? Did you have a nightmare?” Steve asked looking worriedly down at his broken friend.

“Steve… I have to see her… I need to see… I need to know if she’s breathing,” he replied quietly. 

Steve had no idea what had happened in this nightmare, so he just simply nodded, “If that’s what will help you, then by all means let’s going down to the lab and check up with T’Challa’s sister.”

Bucky got out of bed, and the two men made their way down the hall and to the elevator to the lab. T’Challa had warned them both, saying that it would probably be best to wait until Shuri was completely done to see you, but Steve knew at this point Bucky didn’t care about that. He definitely wasn’t thinking about how he’d feel if they get their and you were gone.

The elevator stopped, clearing Steve’s head of nagging thoughts. Shuri was sitting at her desk writing something down in a notebook, “Where is she?” Bucky asked abruptly. 

Shuri was obviously startled, her shoulders jumping up a bit at the sound of Bucky’s voice. She spun her chair around to face the two super soldiers, “I was wondering when you to would wake up and come down here… Hey have you been crying? What for?” She asked.

Bucky rolled his eyes, “Where is she?”

Shuri got up from her desk chair, “This way grumpy,” she said as she lead them around the corn and down the hall. She stopped at a door and used her body to block it, “There’s a few things you need to know before you go in. First of all, she hasn’t woken up yet, but if you’re too loud she might. Also… Um… by the time she got here the damage was too severe for reconstruction.”

“So what does that mean for her?” Steve asked, crossing his arms over his chest. 

She gulped, “I gave her a replacement for the lower half of her left leg. It’s made of vibrainium and it’s the same size as her real leg would be so it’ll be easy enough to hide. It’s also detachable so she doesn’t have to sleep with it or anything.” Steve and Bucky looked at each other, somehow both feeling even more guilty than they had before. “If you still want to go in you can,” She said before moving out of the way.

“Thank you for doing everything you could Shuri, she’s alive and will mostly recover from this because of you,” Steve said with a small smile.

“It was no trouble, I’ll be back over in the main lab if you need anything, make sure you shut the door all the way when you’re finished and for the love of vibrainium don’t wake her up,” She said to the men as she began to walk back towards the rest of the lab.

“Got it, thanks Shuri,” Steve said before he turned towards Bucky, “Are you sure you still want to go in here?”

“I need to Steve,” Bucky said before he moved his hand to the door knob before slowly twisting it open.

When Bucky peered inside he saw you layed out gently on a semi-comfortable looking bed. The Wakandans had technology he had never seen before checking for your heart rate, your body temperature, and a few other vital signs. He could see your heartbeat on the monitor hung on the wall and he relaxed a little bit, “Are you okay now?” Steve asked softly, not wanting to disturb your sleep.

Bucky didn’t respond, he simply crept towards your sleeping form, gently pressing two fingers to your overturned wrist. He felt your pulse, and he smiled a bit. You were okay, he was okay, and Steve was okay, and that was all that mattered to the Winter Soldier at this point in his life. He moved away from you and turned his smile towards Steve, “Yeah I’m okay, let’s let her sleep.”

The two super soldiers made their way out of the room and back to the main lab, both feeling at the moment that things might just turn out okay.


	7. Fighting Again

It was another two days before you woke up. Shuri and T’Challa had been talking in your room in hushed tones when you started to pull yourself from the dark abyss. Your brain felt like mush, your heart beating at a slower pace the usual. You felt rested and yet your whole body ached. It took you a few full minutes before it became clear to you that something was very wrong. The young royals came over to your bedside as you came to the realization that the lower half of your left leg was gone. You began to panic at the sight, crying out quietly because your hoarse throat would only allow a little bit of noise to come out. Shuri took hold of your hands, saying calming words in a soft tone until you calmed down enough to hear T’Challa. “Don’t worry (y/n). Shuri has made you the best replacement. It may look metallic, but it will function just like your real like would. You won’t even be able to tell the difference once you become adjusted.”

You breathing had returned to a semi-normal level and you nodded weakly, “Can I see Bucky… and Steve?” You asked, “Also… Can I have some water?” 

Shuri moved to get a glass of water off the table, carefully bringing it to your lips so that you could take a drink. The water felt good against your desert of a throat. You smiled once she pulled the drink away, “Thank you Shuri.”

“No problem (y/n). Are you sure you want to see them right away? Don’t you want to rest a bit first?” She asked.

You shook your head lightly, “I’d like to see them if that’s okay, I can rest later.”

T’Challa nodded, “I’ll go get them, they’ll be happy to see you’re in such high spirits,” He said with a smile as he began to leave the room. 

You smiled back, but as he turned away from you your face fell. You knew that Shuri could still see you, but at that moment that didn’t seem to matter. You had the sudden realization of more than just your leg. You started to remember what had brought you here, the war, the concerned faces of Natasha, Bucky, and Steve, Peter fighting on the opposing side… oh god, Peter. He must be so worried. It has to have been days. You turned to Shuri as she began to speak, “What’s wrong? Really, (y/n). I know the leg is a lot to take in, but I can tell that’s not really all that’s on your mind right now.”

“I just… I just realized there’s a lot of people back home who are probably worried sick about me and there’s nothing I can do about it right now…”

Shuri gave you a sad look, “I know this is hard, but the best thing for you right now is to focus on yourself, on getting well enough to travel back home and see those people again.”

You nodded, knowing she was right, you had to focus on getting well so you could go home. You just wanted to hug Peter and tell him you were sorry, but you didn’t even know if he’d want to see you again after everything that happened at the airport. Your mind felt like it was spinning. You were about to say tell Shuri about Peter when the door to the room opened, revealing Bucky, Steve, and T’Challa. “Hey there’s our favorite teenage superhero,” Steve said with a soft smile as he and Bucky walked over. 

You laughed a bit, “That’s not really much of a competition, you only know two Steve, and I think Bucky only really knows one.”

“You’re still our favorite,” Bucky said as he sat down in a chair that was next to your bed, “How are you feeling kiddo?”

“Considering I lost a leg and I’m in Africa when I should be in school in Midtown, I think I’m doing alright,” You said with a little giggle, trying to lighten the mood. While both of them had smiles on their faces, you knew they weren’t genuine. 

“Could you guys give us a minute?” You asked, aiming the question at T’Challa and Shuri.

“Of course, if you need anything, I’ll be right out in the main lab,” Shuri said as she began to move towards the door. T’Challa didn’t move, “Come along brother,” she said as she yanked on the collar of his shirt. He soon followed after her. 

You turned your attention back to the two men sitting at your bedside. You frowned at them, “You guys can stop fake smiling now, they’re gone,” You said in a bit of a harsh tone, “and don’t say you put those on for my sake, I’m going to be fine.”

They both let out sighs, “We are just worried about you kiddo,” Steve says honestly, “You gave us a real scare.”

“Yeah, you did. Your injuries could have caused you to die, even before you very recklessly followed us into the Hydra lab,” Bucky spat back, matching your harsh tone. 

“You were going to kill each other! Was I just supposed to sit there and watch?”

“In the process of trying to stop us from killing each other, you almost got killed yourself!” Bucky wasn’t quite sure what had gotten into him, he had been so excited to see your smile, but the second you started to scold him and Steve his attitude changed. You had risked everything to try to stop them, he wouldn’t have been able to live with himself if something had happened to you. 

You rolled your eyes, “Like you didn’t risk your life during the battle at the airport for me. I was just returning the favor. Besides, I care about you guys!”

Bucky looked down, he didn’t know what to say. He stood up, “Bucky?” Steve asked.

“I’ll be back to visit later. Rest up now (y/n),” Bucky said as he left the room.

You looked over to Steve, “I really fucked up didn’t I Steve?” 

“It’ll be okay (y/n). I’ll talk to him, you just get some rest,” Steve gently squeezing your hand before leaving. You let out a sigh as he shut the door behind him, had you already ruined the beginnings of your relationship with Bucky?

~ ~ ~

Steve followed quickly after Bucky, trying to catch up to the Winter Soldier. “Bucky!” He called as he reached T’Challa and Shuri.

“What happened to him? He’s in a really sour mood,” Shuri asked. 

“He and (y/n) got into a fight. I’m going to go try to talk to him,” Steve said as he left the pair of siblings confused. 

“Bucky! Slow down, we need to talk about this!”

Bucky turned around and stopped, “There’s nothing to talk about Steve! She was stupid and reckless and she’s up on a high horse about it! I’m going under tomorrow, it’s final,” He spat and he turned away. He continued walking down the hall until he was out of Steve’s sight. He couldn’t believe Bucky’s complete turnaround. He was so worried about you and now he was just angry with you? The coin flip feelings didn’t really make a whole lot of sense to Steve. He knew he had to convince Bucky to talk to you again before he went under because you would be crushed if you thought he went under hating you, but how he was going to go about that he wasn’t sure. 

~ ~ ~

Peter had been sitting in his room for days. When he first got home from his excursion with Tony Stark, May had thought that there was something off, but she wasn’t quite sure what. She asked Peter what had happened to cause him the injuries and he said he had gotten into a fight with a guy named Steve from Brooklyn. However, that was all she could get him to say. His somber mood not lifting at all. After about a day she realized what was missing from Peter’s routine, the constant visits from you. Let’s face it, you pretty much lived with the Parkers at this point. She went into Peter’s room and asked him where you were and he told her that he didn’t know. He wasn’t very clear on what had happened, but she did learn that the two of you had gotten into a fight. The two of you never fought like this. Aunt May had a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach so she called Ned over. 

She asked Ned if he had heard from you or Peter in the last day or so. He responded no on both fronts. May bit her lip in worry, her voice showing how anxious she was as she explained to Ned the situation. Ned nodded, now understanding why she was worried. Ned told her that you hadn’t been at school, which only made May worry more. The pair decided to check on Peter again. The opened the door slowly. Peter was sitting at his desk, playing with his fingers while looking at a framed photo of the two of you. “Hey Peter,” Ned said fairly quietly, “You missed school and I was wondering what was up so I thought I’d come say hi.” It was obvious to Ned that Peter heard him even though he made no movements. The boy could tell his best friend was extremely anxious and sad, something was very wrong with this picture. Ned continued, “How about you and I go grab sandwiches and then have a Star Wars marathon? That sounds good right?”

“(y/n) will be mad if we watch Star Wars without her,” Peter mumbled. The words almost seemed to tumble out of his mouth, like he really didn’t think about his answer.

“Well… Why don’t you invite (y/n) to come over?” Ned asked.

Peter picked up his phone from beside him, still not looking towards the pair in the doorway. It was already open to your contact, which read

‘Soulmate 💍❤️’. He pressed call, set it to the speaker, and without looking towards them he faced it towards May and Ned. The phone’s voice droned, “the number you have dialed is no longer in service.”

“I’m sure she just dropped her phone in a river or something, she’s always been really clumsy,” Ned said, trying not to panic. He wanted to seem like he was trying to calm down Peter when he was really just trying to calm himself down. “How about we go do something while we wait for her to get her phone fix huh? Go out and eat or go over to my house or something? Then we can all come back here and watch Star Wars when she gets ba-”

“SHE’S NOT COMING BACK!” Peter finally snapped. He turned to face the pair and they could finally see his whole face. His cheeks were stained with tear streaks and redness that wouldn’t seem to go away. His eyes looked tired like he hadn’t slept in a few days. Overall, the poor kid looked heartbroken. Neither May or Ned knew what to do to make him feel better, neither of them really understood what had happened either. 

May walked into the room, and pulled Peter into a tight hug, “It’s okay Peter… I know it’s going to be okay.”

“It’s not… It’s not… It’s not it’s not it’s not it’s not,” He cried into her shoulder, clinging onto her for dear life. 

May felt the tears start to prick at her eyes, she didn’t know what to do to help Peter and now she was really worried about you, what had really happened between you?


	8. Frozen

Steve had been in his room all afternoon, trying to think of a way to get Bucky to talk to you before he went under. Steve knew that you would be upset either way, but at least if Bucky talked to you before he went under you’d know that he didn’t hate you. 

He was pulled from his thoughts by the sounds of a conversation from the next room over. He heard Bucky and T’Challa’s voices and he rose from his spot on the bed. He made his way out the door to find T’Challa already heading down the hall. Steve turned his attention to Bucky, who stood silently looking down at his shoes. “You’re going to be mad at me for this, but I don’t care,” He said in a soft mutter. Steve almost couldn’t make it out.

“What are you talking about Buck?” He asked.

“I had T’Challa move forward with everything, I’m going under as soon as everything is ready,” He replied.

“Great, you should go talk to (y/n) now then, you have plenty of time to-”

“No Steve. I’m not talking to her before I go under. My thoughts and emotions are all over the place thanks to the fact that my brains are so scrambled. I can’t promise that I won’t suddenly become angry with her again if I talk to her. I’ll most likely just make it worse and I can’t do that to us. I’ve already made it bad enough.”

Steve felt his heart break, “Bucky I’ll be right there with you. I’ll make sure-”

“Again, I’m not doing it, Steve.”

“Bucky look at me,” Steve said in a slightly harsh tone.

Bucky’s head rose to look at his trusted friend, his eyes glossy from the tears that would surely begin spilling soon, “She’s made her own family through her friends and the people close to her, but that’s not the same. You are her only biological family. It will break her heart if you go under and you two have talked it out because let’s face it, you might be frozen for the next 1,000 years while they try to figure out how to fix you and she’ll be long gone by then. Just say goodbye at least Buck.”

Bucky looked away from Steve, wiping the rivers from his cheeks, “No okay? Just no.”

~ ~ ~

You spent most of your day in bed talking with Shuri, but when you had finally had enough of laying around she helped you with your first steps. She held onto your arm tightly, happy to see you wanting to get up. She knew your fight with Bucky had really upset you, but she didn’t really know how to help more than helping with other things.

Your first steps were awkward and clumsy, it took you a bit of time to adjust to the slight weight difference of this new leg. It also took a while for you to get your act partly together because of the injury around the end of your natural leg. It was healed over enough that it wouldn’t hurt you to walk and get a little movement in, but it was still fairly painful to put pressure on it.

Shuri didn’t pressure you to do anything or move in any way, she just walked you through what you were comfortable with. You were frustrated, but you were making some progress, so it pretty much balanced out. After a while, T’Challa came in and helped as well. “Have you heard anything from Steve or Bucky this afternoon?” You asked as the pair of siblings continued to help you walk.

“I talked to Captain Rogers a little while ago, but there hasn’t been a peep from Barnes since the incident earlier, sorry (y/n),” T’Challa replied in what seemed to be an honest tone. 

You let out a sigh, knowing that you had really messed up things with Bucky earlier, “That’s okay T’Challa, thank you for being honest.”

He gave a curt nod, it seemed like he was going to say something, but he was stopped by the sound of the door opening. It was one of the scientific researchers from Shuri’s lab. You could tell by the way he was dressed, “Everything is all set for Mr. Barnes your highness.”

Your heart pounded and your eyebrows raised at the sound of Bucky’s name. Had T’Challa not been honest with you? Had he heard from Bucky? What could possibly be ready for him? “Thank you, I’ll meet you all at the chamber when I’m done here. Go get him and get him prepped,” The king responded.

“Right away,” The man said before he left the room. He seemed off-put by the look on your face and wanted to get out of there as quickly as possible.

“I thought you said you hadn’t heard from Bucky T’Challa?” You quipped sassily, “What does he need to be prepared for?” 

T’Challa stepped back from you and avoided eye contact, whatever this was it wasn’t good. “Shuri watch her,” He said in a serious tone before he began to leave.

“Hold on T’Challa! You have to answer me!” You shouted after him, now finding hard to stand with only one person helping to keep the weight off of your leg. 

You turned your attention to Shuri, giving her a pleading look, “Shuri what is going on?” you asked, hoping she would give you a straightforward answer, unlike her brother.

Shuri looked away from you, her face covered in contemplation, “I’m sorry (y/n), but Bucky has asked to be frozen again until we can find a way to cure his brain.”

Your eyes went wide, “What?! I can’t lose him yet, I just got him back!” You started to hyperventilate, “No! When is he going under? I need to talk to him!”

“He’s going under now (y/n)... I’m so sorry…” She said, not knowing what else to say. 

“No! No! NO!” You screamed, becoming more and more panicked by the second. You whipped your arms around until you were free from Shuri’s grasp and hobbled as quickly as you could towards the door. 

You moved as fast as you could and Shuri didn’t try to stop you. She honestly didn’t think you’d make it that far. Your leg was searing in pain and you had no idea where to go to find him. You frantically looked at the staff, “WHERE’S BUCKY?!” You screamed.

“Ah… Right this way,” One of the researchers answered, sensing your urgency he jogged in the right direction. You silently thanked him for that and did your best to keep up with him, even though your leg wanted to die about two steps outside of the lab.

You made it to the observation deck and there were a lot of people running about. You looked at the center to see Bucky in a giant tube. He had his eyes closed, but he wasn’t frozen yet. You tried to keep moving towards him, but your leg gave out and you had to stop. You were only about twenty feet away, fighting your body as much as you could. Suddenly the white haze started within the tube. “BUCKY NO!” You shouted, pulling yourself up and running towards the tube as fast as you could. You were, however, too late.

~ ~ ~

After what happened, Steve and T’Challa agreed it would be best for you to just go home if Shuri cleared you medically speaking. Once she did, you and Steve hopped on one of the high tech aircraft and had a silent ride all the way back to New York. You were worried about so many things your mind was just a jumbled blur and you couldn’t even think of words to say. You were worried about what Bucky much have thought of you as he went under, but you were also worried about your destination. Would Peter even want to see you again? 

You didn’t have any more time to question it as you arrived, “Everything is going to be alright (y/n),” Steve said trying to lighten your mood.

You could start a fight, but you figured that probably wasn’t the best way to go, “Thanks, Steve… I’ll see you around,” You replied as you moved to exit the ship.

“He doesn’t hate you,” Steve let out.

“Who doesn’t hate me Steve?” you asked, not sure who he was referring to.

“Neither of them do,” He answered as you left the ship completely, landing your feet on the rooftop of your apartment building. You looked out at the view, there was a part of you that never thought you would make it back here. You could stay here and admire the city forever, but you knew you couldn’t do that. There was too much to do out there.

You walked towards the door into the building, the cool air hitting you once you were inside. You had put on sweatpants to cover your leg and a breezy t-shirt, but it still felt too hot for the weather outside for this time of year. 

You walked to Peter’s floor, knowing that Aunt May was probably out and he was probably inside. You took a deep breath before testing the doorknob, it was unlocked. You slowly pushed open the door, there was no movement inside. You started to make your way toward Peter’s room, your hands starting to shake at the million scenarios playing out in your head. “Peter?” You called out into the apartment. At first, you heard nothing, but then you heard loud fast footsteps coming towards his bedroom door. The door flung open, Peter’s face went from shocked to a smile taking over his features. Your feet were frozen to the ground and your mouth was sewed shut. You had no idea what to say to him. 

He ran over to you and flung his arms tightly around your waist, pulling you into the best hug of your life. His head was in the crook of your neck, you instantly wrapped your arms around him, feeling safe and your worries that he wouldn’t want to see you again rushed away. Your eyes flutter shut, neither of you said a word for a long while. You could feel your tears running down your cheeks and his hitting your shoulder, “I’m so sorry Peter.”

“It’s okay (y/n), it’s okay… just thank god you’re alive. I don’t know what I would have done if you-”

“Let’s not go there Peter,” You said quietly.

“Right… Let’s never fight on opposite sides of a superhero civil war again,” He said as he pulled away slightly. He cupped your cheeks, using his thumbs to wipe away your tears. 

“Agreed,” You said with a smiled before he leaned in and kissed you. His lips were soft and sweet just like you remembered them to be. He kissed you like you were going to break if he wasn’t careful, but you could still feel all his passion and love. You had missed him so much. 

When he pulled away he set his forehead gently on yours, “Peter there’s something I’ve got to tell you.”

“What is it?” He asked, suddenly worried.

“I got out of that building alive, but not unscathed,” You said as you took a step back and lifted up your pant leg, “Curtsey of King T’Challa and his sister Shuri.”

Peter’s eyes went wide at the site of your metal leg, but it wasn’t in disgust or being horrified. He was in shock, but he thought it was just about the coolest thing he had ever seen, “You have a metal leg now?! That is so cool! Can I touch it?” 

You giggled at his weirdness, “Whatever floats your boat Parker, I’m just glad you don’t hate it.”

“Hate it? Are you kidding me?! I know it must have hurt and this isn’t ideal, but it is so cool and literally the most badass thing I have ever seen.”

“Language!”


End file.
